Parliament Chairman Dmytro Razumkov discussed this topic at a television talk show last Sunday. “The key issue is elections which can be held exclusively in accordance with Ukrainian legislation. Actually, this is one of the ‘red lines’ about which we’ve spoken earlier”, explained the Speaker.

He pointed to the element of security as the second “red line”. In particular, it covers the control over the Russian-Ukrainian State border. Only when this important element is implemented and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) recognizes local elections in Donbas as valid, the law on the special status of this region will come into force. “Elections may be held only in the absence of guns, tanks and other military equipment”, stated Razumkov and added that no one of the “red lines” would be violated in the process of making the special status law because “the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine hinges upon them”.

The Speaker of Ukrainian Parliament made these statements amidst a series of protests that flared after the Trilateral Contact Group in charge of the settlement of the armed conflict in Donbas had signed the “Steinmeier Formula” which provides for giving the special status to this region.

Last week, the acts of protests were held all over Ukraine under the slogan “No To Capitulation”. For instance, last Sunday Independence Square in Kyiv downtown became the site of a popular assembly called “To Stop Capitulation”. Participants in the assembly spoke against the Steinmeier Formula. The police report says that the assembly has gathered as many as 10 thousand people. From Independence Square protesters marched to the Office of the President, the Parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers.

The newspaper Holos Ukrainy